Israel destroys Hamas headquarters in Gaza City

GAZA CITY — Back-and-forth violence between Israel and Hamas left civilians on both sides digging out of rubble and broken glass Saturday as the conflict entered its fourth day.

After another night of Israeli air strikes, the death toll in Gaza jumped to 38 people, including 11 children, hospital officials said.

Israel expanded its targets to include several high-profile Hamas institutions, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s headquarters, a police compound, the Interior Ministry and the home of an Interior Ministry official.

PHOTOS: Israel-Gaza violence escalates

Israel Defense Forces released a video of the strike against the Hamas headquarters. They said a secondary explosion that took place after their missile struck proved that the site was being used to store munitions.

By Saturday morning, the building was a twisted pile of glass and cement, reeking of fuel from an exploded generator. Hamas supporters planted several Palestinian flags in the wreckage.

Next door, unemployed engineer Mahmoud Abu Mohamed, 65, swept up the broken windows of his family home. He was praying at the mosque down the street when the early-morning strike took place. Frantic, he rushed back to check on his wife and children, but everyone was OK.

He had been worried that Israel might strike the Hamas building next door but said his family has no other place to live. Even with all his windows broken, the family plans to stay put.

At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, several members of the Salah family were fighting for their lives after an Israeli air strike destroyed their three-story home in Jabalia.

Ibrahim Salah, a Hamas official, suffered a fractured skull, and his wife lay unconscious. A granddaughter, Lina, 2, was also injured.

“There were five children in the house,’’ said Fatma Salah, 20, daughter of Ibrahim. “We received no warning. We’ve never been targeted before. It’s a miracle no one was killed.”

Her still-frightened daughter lay in a hospital bed next to her with bandages wrapped around her head, connected to an IV feeding tube. Another boy, Mohamed, 3, seemed oblivious to the cuts on his face and more interested in the crush of well-wishers and journalists.

Fatma and her children were on the top floor of the building when it collapsed. Her parents were crushed beneath them, she said.

She too was trapped until someone freed her leg from the broken cement. The worst part, she said, was being separated from her children.

In Israel, three people were injured Saturday by rockets fired into southern Israel.

The military released a photo of one house in Ashdod, where window frames and glass shards blanketed one home’s living room.

“Good thing the family wasn’t sitting in their living room when this happened,’’ the IDF said on its Twitter account.

PHOTOS: Israel-Gaza violence escalates

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Lady Gaga tweets some racy images before concert

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.

The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.

She told her followers that it's a "surprise for you, almost ready for you to TASTE."

Then, in between concerts in Brazil and Argentina, she posted a picture Thursday on her Twitter page showing her wallowing in her underwear and impossibly high heels on top of the remains of what appears to be a strawberry shortcake.

"The real CAKE isn't HAVING what you want, it's DOING what you want," she tweeted.

Lady Gaga wore decidedly unglamorous baggy jeans and a blouse outside her Buenos Aires hotel Thursday as three burly bodyguards kept her fans at bay. Another pre-concert media event where she was supposed to be given "guest of honor" status by the city government Friday afternoon was cancelled.

After Argentina, she is scheduled to perform in Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Asuncion, Paraguay, before taking her "Born This Way Ball" tour to Africa, Europe and North America.

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Well: Meatless Main Dishes for a Holiday Table

Most vegetarian diners are happy to fill their plates with delicious sides and salads, but if you want to make them feel special, consider one of these main course vegetarian dishes from Martha Rose Shulman. All of them are inspired by Greek cooking, which has a rich tradition of vegetarian meals.

I know that Greek food is not exactly what comes to mind when you hear the word “Thanksgiving,” yet why not consider this cuisine if you’re searching for a meatless main dish that will please a crowd? It’s certainly a better idea, in my mind, than Tofurky and all of the other overprocessed attempts at making a vegan turkey. If you want to serve something that will be somewhat reminiscent of a turkey, make the stuffed acorn squashes in this week’s selection, and once they’re out of the oven, stick some feathers in the “rump,” as I did for the first vegetarian Thanksgiving I ever cooked: I stuffed and baked a huge crookneck squash, then decorated it with turkey feathers. The filling wasn’t nearly as good as the one you’ll get this week, but the creation was fun.

Here are five new vegetarian recipes for your Thanksgiving table — or any time.

Giant Beans With Spinach, Tomatoes and Feta: This delicious, dill-infused dish is inspired by a northern Greek recipe from Diane Kochilas’s wonderful new cookbook, “The Country Cooking of Greece.”

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Northern Greek Mushroom and Onion Pie: Meaty portobello mushrooms make this a very substantial dish.

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Roasted Eggplant and Chickpeas With Cinnamon-Tinged Tomato Sauce and Feta: This fragrant and comforting dish can easily be modified for vegans.

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Coiled Greek Winter Squash Pie: The extra time this beautiful vegetable pie takes to assemble is worth it for a holiday dinner.

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Baked Acorn Squash Stuffed With Wild Rice and Kale Risotto: Serve one squash to each person at your Thanksgiving meal: They’ll be like miniature vegetarian (or vegan) turkeys.

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Black Friday: A survival guide

Shopping

The plan | The numbers | The gear | The strategy | The apps | The start

Black Friday, the most buzzed-about shopping day of the year, is starting even earlier this holiday season as retailers try to get a jump on the competition.

The official kickoff to the Christmas shopping rush, the day after Thanksgiving brings out millions of bargain hunters looking to score new tablets, flat-panel TVs, clothes and toys. Last year retailers raked in an estimated $11.4 billion on Black Friday, up 6.6% from 2010.

This year, major retailers including Wal-Mart and Toys R Us are opening their doors as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. That’s too bad for store employees, but good news if you’re a shopaholic who doesn’t mind hitting the shops before the turkey has cooled.

For those of you who are planning to brave the crowds, whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned veteran, here’s a guide to surviving the Black Friday rush.


-- Andrea Chang

Photo credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Photo credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Photo credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Photo credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Photo credit: Seong Joon Cho / Bloomberg

Photo credit: Associated Press

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After heavy Israeli airstrikes, Gazans take a darker view

Rockets from Gaza hit Southern Israel on Friday, one day after rocket fire from Palestinian militants killed three Israelis. Israel continued its offensive against militants in Gaza, but offered a brief truce during the Egyptian premier's visit.

GAZA CITY  -- A restless night punctuated by more than 250 Israeli airstrikes substantially darkened the mood and spirits of many Gazans on Friday as the conflict here entered its third day.

For the family of engineering student Amir Osama Maqousy, 18, the turning point came about 6:30 a.m., when the windows of his Gaza City house were blown in by a blast next door.  Israeli airstrikes hit a squad of militants who were launching rockets into Israel, he said.

Less than three hours later, Maqousy, his four siblings, their mother, aunt and grandmother were waiting anxiously by their car at the Rafah border crossings with their suitcases. They plan to stay in Cairo until the situation in Gaza settles down.

“This is my country and I had no intention of leaving, but we have children in the house, so after this morning, there was no choice,’’ he said. “We can’t live in there anymore.”

Dozens of other Gazans waited to exit the territory Friday morning, but there did not appear to be a mass exodus. Most families can’t afford to leave or have no place to stay outside of Gaza, even though Egypt has promised to keep the border crossing open.

The Israeli airstrikes overnight – the heaviest in four years – left many Gazans with a growing sense of dread.

Israel said it targeted mostly rocket-launching sites and weapons depots. But much of the bombardment appeared to be designed to frighten the public, residents said, hitting empty lots, vacant buildings or structures that had been previously destroyed.

“It was designed to terrorize us, and it worked,’’ said construction worker Riad Abu Lanzain, 38, as he layered fresh cement over his door stoop, which was damaged by shrapnel from an airstrike early Friday. The missile hit an empty lot across the street in his residential neighborhood, leaving a gaping hole in the sand and blowing out windows in most of the adjacent apartment buildings.

Though no one was hurt, half a dozen families scurried into a ground-level room and stayed there the rest of the night.

“For the sake of the children, we just want all of this to stop,’’ said the father of five.

Not far away, a half-collapsed Interior Ministry building – responsible for issuing passports and hosting international delegations – was still smoldering as onlookers climbed through a debris pile of crushed desks, ceiling panels and laminated government ID cards.

“There are no rocket launchers here,’’ said Ibek Rabai, a distraught ministry manager, standing in front of the wreckage. “It’s surrounded by schools.”

In Israel, more than 1 million residents in the south remained close to bomb shelters. After on overnight drop in rocket attacks, militants fired an additional 67 rockets by noon Friday. At least three people were injured and damage was reported to several homes.

For the second day in a row, militants targeted Tel Aviv with two rockets, but neither caused injury or damage.

On Thursday, three Israelis died when a rocket struck their apartment building.

ALSO:

Heavy Israeli airstrikes overnight bring lull in Gaza rockets

Twitter and other social media now another front in Gaza attack

Egyptian prime minister's Gaza visit fails to bring lull in violence

 

 

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Jason Mraz to make historic appearance in Myanmar

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.

Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is believed to be the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the country. The show includes local acts and is hosted by MTV EXIT, the music channel's initiative to raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation.

"That's pretty exciting," Mraz said of the history involved, "and I'm going there with an enormous amount of gratitude and respect, and I hope we can actually make a difference. I hope it's also a testament to the songs. I've always wanted my songs to be about healing and self-empowerment, and if this is the way MTV is acknowledging that, then I am incredibly grateful."

The show, which will include local acts, will be broadcast on Myanmar national television and will air on MTV's international network in 2013. Mraz hosted a similar concert in the Philippines last year. He first became interested in the issue about four years ago when he attended the Freedom Awards, an annual salute to those working against human exploitation put on by the organization Free the Slaves.

"I thought this was something that was abolished when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but all it did is become hidden from our view," Mraz said in a phone interview from Zurich, Switzerland. "There was a recent estimate that there are about 27 million people enslaved on the planet, certainly due to hard economic times not just in the Western world but certainly in Third World countries. Humans as a commodity is a great way to run your business. So I signed on, lent my voice, lent my music to the cause."

Myanmar is opening itself to the world since a military junta ceded power to a new elected government last year. President Thein Sein's government has pushed the country toward democracy, and this Monday Barack Obama is scheduled to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country.

Mraz says there is concern predators will prey on the vulnerable in this time of great flux. The concert offers an opportunity to "educate, empower and engage." The 35-year-old singer says he plans to tailor his show to the message.

"I do curate a set list that I feel is going to be part of that educate, empower and engage (theme)," he said. "Obviously songs like 'I'm Yours,' 'I Won't Give Up' are great examples. Or '93 Million Miles' is a new one where it's about believing in yourself. And a lot of my songs are about that, about believing in yourself and really going for your dreams. Those are the kinds of songs I'll be playing at that show."

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Online:

http://jasonmraz.com

http://mtvexit.org

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott .

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For Alzheimer’s, Detection Advances Outpace Treatment Options

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

Awilda Jimenez got a scan for Alzheimer’s after she started forgetting things. It was positive.

When Awilda Jimenez started forgetting things last year, her husband, Edwin, felt a shiver of dread. Her mother had developed Alzheimer’s in her 50s. Could his wife, 61, have it, too?

He learned there was a new brain scan to diagnose the disease and nervously agreed to get her one, secretly hoping it would lay his fears to rest. In June, his wife became what her doctor says is the first private patient in Arizona to have the test.

“The scan was floridly positive,” said her doctor, Adam S. Fleisher, director of brain imaging at the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix.

The Jimenezes have struggled ever since to deal with this devastating news. They are confronting a problem of the new era of Alzheimer’s research: The ability to detect the disease has leapt far ahead of treatments. There are none that can stop or even significantly slow the inexorable progression to dementia and death.

Families like the Jimenezes, with no good options, can only ask: Should they live their lives differently, get their affairs in order, join a clinical trial of an experimental drug?

“I was hoping the scan would be negative,” Mr. Jimenez said. “When I found out it was positive, my heart sank.”

The new brain scan technology, which went on the market in June, is spreading fast. There are already more than 300 hospitals and imaging centers, located in most major metropolitan areas, that are ready to perform the scans, according to Eli Lilly, which sells the tracer used to mark plaque for the scan.

The scans show plaques in the brain — barnaclelike clumps of protein, beta amyloid — that, together with dementia, are the defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease. Those who have dementia but do not have excessive plaques do not have Alzheimer’s. It is no longer necessary to wait until the person dies and has an autopsy to learn if the brain was studded with plaques.

Many insurers, including Medicare, will not yet pay for the new scans, which cost several thousand dollars. And getting one comes with serious risks. While federal law prevents insurers and employers from discriminating based on genetic tests, it does not apply to scans. People with brain plaques can be denied long-term care insurance.

The Food and Drug Administration, worried about interpretations of the scans, has required something new: Doctors must take a test showing they can read them accurately before they begin doing them. So far, 700 doctors have qualified, according to Eli Lilly. Other kinds of diagnostic scans have no such requirement.

In another unusual feature, the F.D.A. requires that radiologists not be told anything about the patient. They are generally trained to incorporate clinical information into their interpretation of other types of scans, said Dr. R. Dwaine Rieves, director of the drug agency’s Division of Medical Imaging Products.

But in this case, clinical information may lead radiologists to inadvertently shade their reports to coincide with what doctors suspect is the underlying disease. With Alzheimer’s, Dr. Rieves said, “clinical impressions have been misleading.”

“This is a big change in the world of image interpretation,” he said.

Like some other Alzheimer’s experts, Dr. Fleisher used the amyloid scan for several years as part of a research study that led to its F.D.A. approval. Subjects were not told what the scans showed. Now, with the scan on the market, the rules have changed.

Dr. Fleisher’s first patient was Mrs. Jimenez. Her husband, the family breadwinner, had lost his job as a computer consultant when the couple moved from New York to Arizona to take care of Mrs. Jimenez’s mother. Paying several thousand dollars for a scan was out of the question. But Dr. Fleisher found a radiologist, Dr. Mantej Singh Sra of Sun Radiology, who was so eager to get into the business that he agreed to do Mrs. Jimenez’s scan free. His plan was to be the first in Arizona to do a scan, and advertise it.

After Dr. Sra did the scan, the Jimenezes returned to Dr. Fleisher to learn the result.

Dr. Fleisher, sad to see so much plaque in Mrs. Jimenez’s brain, referred her to a psychiatrist to help with anxiety and suggested she enter clinical trials of experimental drugs.

But Mr. Jimenez did not like that idea. He worried about unexpected side effects.

“Tempting as it is, where do you draw the line?” he asks. “At what point do you take a risk with a loved one?”

At Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, Dr. Samuel E. Gandy found that his patients — mostly affluent — were unfazed by the medical center’s $3,750 price for the scan. He has been ordering at least one a week for people with symptoms ambiguous enough to suggest the possibility of brain plaques.

Most of his patients want their names kept confidential, fearing an inability to get long-term care insurance, or just wanting privacy.

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Stocks slip; Dell, Smucker drop

Stock indexes opened lower on Wall Street Friday. Dell, the personal computer maker, and J.M. Smucker, a food maker, fell after their earnings reports disappointed investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 61 points at 12,480 as of 10:05 a.m. EST. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down five points at 1,348.73. The Nasdaq composite was down 14 points 2,823.

Dell fell 65 cents to $8.90 after saying that its revenue may fall as much as 13 percent in the fourth quarter. Dell is suffering as consumers switch away from PCs to less expensive smartphones and tablets. J.M. Smucker fell $3.26 to $82.12 after its sales forecast for the company's fiscal year disappointed investors.

Investors will also watch for any developments regarding the “fiscal cliff,” as President Obama heads into budget negotiations with congressional leaders Friday.

Stocks have fallen steadily since voters returned President Barack Obama and a divided Congress to power Nov. 6, with the Dow losing 5 percent since election day. Investors are worried that U.S. leaders may not reach a deal before tax increases and government spending cuts take effect Jan. 1. The impact would total $700 billion for 2013 and could send the country back into recession.

The Dow is heading for its fourth straight weekly loss, while the S&P 500 is on track for its third losing week out of the last four.

Superstorm Sandy depressed U.S. industrial output in October, while production of machinery and equipment declined sharply, reflecting a more cautious outlook among businesses, according to a Federal Reserve report.

The Fed says industrial output fell 0.4 percent last month, after a 0.2 percent gain in September. Excluding the storm's impact, production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities would have been up about 0.6 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves:

— Gap, the San Francisco-based clothing retailer, jumped 42 cents to $33.69 after raising its revenue outlook for the year Thursday. The company also said its net income jumped in the third quarter, beating Wall Street expectations.

— Schiff Nutrition International Inc., a nutritional supplement company, jumped $9.83 to $43.75 after U.K.-based Reckitt Benckiser Group offered to pay $42 a share in cash to buy the company.

— Ruckus Wireless Inc., a maker of wireless networking equipment, dropped $1.14 to $13.89 on its first day of trading. That's a decline of 8 percent.

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Israel attack on Gaza: Familiar tension, new circumstances

JERUSALEM — Israel's surprise air assault on Gaza Strip militants killed the top military commander of Hamas and set the rivals on a familiar course that could end with another major confrontation — but in unpredictable new circumstances created by the "Arab Spring."

Compared with its past campaigns against Hamas, Israel is likely to find itself more restrained politically and militarily in the new landscape.

Rather than being able to count on former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to help isolate Hamas, as he did during a 22-day operation four years ago, Israel must weigh whether another large-scale Gaza offensive would endanger the landmark 1979 peace accord with Egypt, which has long served as a cornerstone of regional stability.

By Wednesday evening, Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, announced he was recalling the country's ambassador to Israel to protest the assault on the Palestinian territory.

"It's a completely new game for Israel," said Yoram Meital, an Egypt expert at the Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy at Ben-Gurion University. "The equation before was between Israel and the Palestinians. Now it's a triangle, involving Egypt too."

Israel's offensive four years ago killed 1,200 Palestinians, but Mubarak brushed aside his own people's support for besieged Gazans and helped Israel seal Gaza's border.

The course of Israel's military campaign could be shaped by Morsi's decisions, analysts say.

Unlike his deposed predecessor, Morsi will find it difficult to ignore the anti-Israel mood of the Egyptian street. Israel is worried Egypt might open the Rafah border crossing to humanitarian aid or even Islamic fighters to help Gazans, Meital said.

"Israel is taking a very bold risk here because if this campaign continues, it could be gambling with the relationship with Egypt," he said.

Both Hamas, which has been emboldened by the new Egyptian government, and Israel, which has clashed repeatedly with it, will be watching closely to see whether Morsi comes out more strongly against Israel in the coming days or adopts a more pragmatic approach, perhaps trying to broker a cease-fire.

Besides public sentiment, Morsi must take into account his relationship with the United States and other world powers. He is seeking billions of dollars in aid and investment from the West to help the Egyptian economy. Some analysts say that even though Morsi will have to respond to be a credible Arab leader, Egyptians are more concerned with domestic problems.

Egyptian tribal leaders have blamed Hamas and other Palestinian groups for aiding the resurgence of deadly militant networks in the Sinai peninsula, who have attacked Egyptian government forces there.

Although he recalled his ambassador, Morsi did not immediately comment in public. But other leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood organization said the country would not tolerate another Israeli campaign in Gaza.

"The brutal aggression on Gaza proves that Israel has not yet learned that Egypt has changed," said Saad Katatni, head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Israeli military officials said the assault could last several days. The campaign is aimed at "defending the people of Israel who have been under rocket attack and crippling terrorist organizations' capabilities," said Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitz.

Tension between Israel and Gaza militants has been mounting for nearly a week, following a missile attack against an Israeli jeep along the Gaza border that left four soldiers wounded.

In the ensuring back-and-forth violence, Hamas and other militant groups fired more than 120 rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel, injuring several Israeli civilians and damaging property.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced growing pressure to move aggressively to stop the attacks, which have terrified nearly 1 million southern Israelis and crippled daily activities.

Over the last year, Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, has resumed a more hostile stance toward Israel, betting that Morsi's election would strengthen its hand.

After observing a self-imposed cease-fire for most of the last four years, militants in recent months increased their attacks on Israel, using new types of weaponry acquired in Libya last year after the chaotic fall of Moammar Kadafi, such as antitank and antiaircraft missiles.

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2 more books coming from 'Gone Girl' author

NEW YORK (AP) — "Gone Girl" novelist Gillian Flynn is sticking around.

The million-selling author has agreed to write two more books for Random House Inc. The publisher announced Thursday that she will write a novel and a young adult novel. The books currently are untitled and publication dates have not been set.

"Gone Girl" has been among the top sellers of 2012, with sales approaching 2 million copies. Flynn's previous works include "Sharp Objects" and "Dark Places."

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